I'm back and what the shiznik!

[Guy Williams]

First and formost hello fella's. CJ you are the best at what you do for the fishing tackle industry. I have no dought that BWW was stronger and longer(come on guy's, not like that) because of you. Gerry I respect both you and Mike a lot and if you feel like you seem to do then I'm sure in your mind Mike done wrong. Do I think he did something wrong because of what you said, I don't know all the facts from both sides. I'll reserve the right of judgement for a later time. It seems to raise the question of why Rick Grover has to fight for Mike. I'm sure it's because Rick is a good friend of Mike's and that would be the brotherly thing to do, fact's unheard and otherwise. I do like it if someone thinks something is not right to stand up like they have a pair and say what they need to say or should say. Gerry you have two big titainium one's. Mike good luck on your quest and hope you and Gerry talk about what happened. Not that you should feel the need to explain yourself but if a person feels so strong with the credibility that Gerry has it would at least clear the air on this subject. Now on this Locked thing. Why would you(Cooch) lock it? Why not warn the guy's with the dirty fingers via E-mail? I thought that's why we register to post on this site now. After I thought about it I think you were way wrong for the locked deal. Liar, Liar, your pants are on fire! Big deal! I know that the possibility of a youth could be looking in on this but I didn't see anything that was over the line. Please just be leaniant on that locked thing, California already has enough governing bodys that we all love.
Guy Williams

[Pete Marino]

[Cooch]

Two friendly posts by the owner of the website, failed to end the thread, locking it served notice that we wanted it off line from that point on. Seems like a purty fair warning, yet two additional posts have spawned, one which was removed instantly, and the other a poster deleted his own within the new thread. Keep in mind, you nor any of the posters on this Forum have to answer to the sponsors who keep this place open for ya all ta come play. Remember, you get to come here for free. Put yourself in the shoes of a participating sponsor who might be showing an executive customer, where his advertising dollars go. They then come into the Forum and see one of these overboard threads. To you, and the guys who hang there, might seem trivial and humorous, yet to that executive from Japan, Austrailia or Texas, they might not see the same as you. Certainly the staff here felt it went overboard. Look at it from that viewpoint, maybe you'll understand our motives. After all, this website is a .COM, it's someone's livelyhood.

You have to admit, over the years, we've been purty forgiving when it comes to rough housing in here. There have been very few instances that we've had to put a hault to. There are Forum policies that are spelled out in the "Sticky" notes at the top of each Forum. The staff of this website, has every right to enforce those policies, all the while taking into consideration, the well being of this site. We simply asked to have this topic taken off line and adhere to the Forum policies.

As for the possibility of kids and teens here, well, maybe this board is further behind than the one to the North. Young kids, teens and families who are maybe not as involved with bass fishing today, like you and I, are a big part of our viewership, especially with our up coming 7th annual C.O.Pro-Teen event coming up on July 17th. We are very sensative towards that crowd on the Northern board.

How difficult is that to understand fellas? Don't shoot the messangers, we're just here doing our jobs, assuring this entire community of anglers, has a decent place ta hang out. A number of guys wanna now point the finger at us as if we're the problem, when infact, we're not the problem at all.

Now if'n ya want a full blown, unsponsored, no holds barred, unmonitored, by invitation only rant board, shoot Gator an e-mail and ask him to set up a private place for ya. We've done this in the past for the political, sports and religious spirited posters who wanna partake in such other issues. We're not here to step on anyone's toes, yet we will try to assure no toes git stepped on with-in reason. We're not here to impliment censorship, we're just requesting ya play within the guidelines of the rules, just like you would follow the rules of any tournament organization, at least our playground is free. The rules are there for a reason, we simply ask ya respect and follow em within reason.

Respectfully,

Cooch

[Rick G]

for any customer, pro-staffer, or freind that gets his name slammed on any website. Mike Long is as UPSTANDING as they get, and is one of our sports biggest ambassadors. I think Gerry is cool, and he and Mike should talk so there is no more need to beat this subject into the ground. Hopefully there will be no lawyers involved,now thats a big waste of time and $. Enough said. Rick G.

[Guy Williams]

*NM*

[mark poulson]

I don't understand something. Why does the new forum format require additional oversight by you?
I read what you said about sponsors. It seems to me that any new sponsor would be attracted by the number of participants, not by the contents of the threads. I think they call that ratings in T.V.. Selling product is what drives their moral compass.
And if it is an old sponsor who has a problem with the type of postings here, why did you guys wait to change the ground rules until the new format was applied? Maybe you have felt all along that the forum was too rowdy, and that's why you started the new format. But the nature of the postings, and the people who post, is what makes this forum worth reading and participating in.
When things aren't said, they fester and turn into nasty stuff. At least here, everyone got to say what was on their minds without worrying about wether it was politically correct. As was pointed out to me when I whined about some non-fishing content, it was labeled non-fishing, and I didn't have to read it.
And, for the most part, there is a pretty high standard set by the people who post here. I would hate to think that this Mike Long thing gets to be more important than it is. I'm sure that Mike and Gerry will work it out.
In the mean time, opinions are like armpits. Everyone has 'em, and they all stink to somebody. But not having the chance to say what's on your mind really stinks. That's probably why they wrote the first amendment.
Mark

[Cooch]

Nothing has changed, except the screen and GUI yer looking at now to read the posts. I have been a moderator, or "Board Monitor" as we've referred to it in the past, of the Forums since the day Tony purchased NBF.COM from Taylor 7 years ago. I've had the same functions and capabilities as a staff member of this website then, as I do now. As for the ground rules, the Forum policies, as stated in the Sticky note at the top of the page, is the same Forum policies we've had since day one. Nothing has changed, expcept the external interface that the users now see when viewing the Forums.

When it comes to the sponsors, what you and I think, our opinions about what sponsors want, think and need, really don't mean much in the real word, when the advertising dollars for that are not coming directly out of our pockets. One would be surprised if they knew and experienced first hand, the inner workings of what goes on with running a website such as this. I don't see a need to debate this, and won't take it any further.

In closing, all this "censorship" rhetoric is a waist of your guy's brain power. Our Forums have very simple, easy to understand policies. We simply ask that they be followed. Nobody is in here rampantly deleting posts and truely censoring this Forum. I personally have never deleted a thread and it's posts on this board. We didn't buy and install new software because of rowdy participation or to better censor posts, it's here simply because it is a better product for our users, versus the old antiquate package we've had for years.

With all that said, let's just follow Tony's advice and git back ta fishin.

[mark poulson]

It's a deal.